RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Baptism
a simple symbolic action a complex ritual consisting of various ceremonies, quite in accord with the natural tendency of a sacramental conception. The first step was to add the laying on of hands. Baptism must not only signify entrance into the Christian fellowship and communion with Jesus, the forgiveness of sins and liberation from the power of evil, but also confer the gift of the Holy Spirit, imparted, indeed, by baptism itself, but more surely and definitely by the imposition of hands. The Didache and Justin do not mention this rite, but that does not prove that it did not exist. The importance attached to it is shown by the fact that in the two places in the Acts where it is mentioned (viii, 16; xix, 6) it is performed by apostles. According to the entire mental attitude of the period, it was undoubtedly looked upon as not merely symbolic but sacramental.
For the subapostolic age the main authorities
are Justin (7 Apol., Ixi, 2; lxv, 1) and the Didache
(vii), the former representing the
2. The Sub- practise of Rome, the latter that of
apostolic western Syria. Yet they agree in all Age. essentials. For both baptism is a complete immersion in the open air; if the Didache permits still water to be used in place of running, and affusion in place of immersion, the local conditions are obviously taken into account — the probably frequent scarcity of water in a Syrian summer. Both have the Trinitarian formula, which involves a threefold dipping or pouring. It is clear from the Didache and probable from Justin that laymen were authorized to administer the rite. Both agree in requiring the candidate to be fasting, in which other brethren specially interested are to join. It is a safe assumption from both that baptism was immediately followed by participation in the Lord's Supper. Thus by the middle of the second century the administration of baptism would seem to have been alike in essentials throughout the whole Church. The laying on of hands may not have been universal (Heb. vi, 2 shows that it was known in places outside of Rome and Syria); and here and there a formal profession of faith may have been in use. Nothing is yet heard of any consecration of [the water, or of fixed seasons for baptism.
The first completely developed baptismal ritual
appears in Tertullian. The forms already seen in
Justin and the Didache are clearly to
3. In Ter- be recognized, but it is likely that not
tullian. a few customs sprang up about the middle of the second century for which the earliest evidence is found in Tertullian. The most striking of these is the renunciation of the devil, which was a solemn ceremony full of meaning, and practically an essential feature in the territory of the Gentile Church. To judge from Tertullian's most detailed account in the De baptismo, there was a period of preparation, marked by frequent prayers, fasting, vigils, and confession of sin. The baptism proper begins with the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the water (see Epiklesis); next follows apparently the renunciation, and then the threefold immersion in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, with a profession
of faith in the form of answers to the interrogations of the minister; then the anointing, and the laying on of hands with prayer. That the reception of the Eucharist still followed the baptism is clear from several passages; after this the newly baptized, clothed in white garments, join in prayer with the " brethren," and milk and honey are given them. For a week after baptism they abstain from the usual daily bath (De corona, iii).
Although this ritual gives the basis of the development of the next few centuries, it must not be forgotten that this development
4. Lines varied considerably in different parts of of Develop- the Church. There is not space here ment. to follow out the ways in which the East differed from the West, and one province from another. One main distinction between East and West is the greater richness of the rite in the former, while the latter held closely to primitive simplicity and even in course of time actually shortened the form — though later it was once more added to. This enrichment is to be explained along the lines of the preparation for the definite and final act of baptism by varied ceremonies of dedication and exorcism patterned after the ancient pagan mysteries (see Exorcism). The catechumen was considered to have crossed the boundary which divided the kingdom of darkness from that of light with the first of these initiatory ceremonies. It is thus easily understood how the lines separating these preparatory ceremonies from baptism proper were fluctuating. On the one hand, things which had originally been part of the main rite were pushed back into the preparation, as in Jerusalem and Rome the renunciation and profession of faith took place in the outer court or vestibule, while the baptism proper began with the blessing of the water in the baptistery. On the other, the process which had once taken weeks was now compressed into an hour, and thus such things as the recitation of the creed, the giving of the name, the administration of salt, etc., became part of the baptismal ceremony. The close connection between baptism and the Eucharist made it possible for large sections of the latter service to be fused with the baptismal in places, as among the Nestorians, Copts, and Armenians. Thus, once more, certain actions originally part of the baptismal function gradually separated from it into independent rites, as the blessing of oil and water, and the unction after baptism, which developed into confirmation under hierarchical in fluence. The decisive elements in the development may be summed up in the following points: the increasing prevalence of infant baptism; the gradual decay of the catechumenate through this and through the large numbers coming to baptism; the tendency to imitation which brought in new customs, especially those followed by a dominant church with a definite ritual like Rome or Antioch; and finally the abbreviation of the ceremonies for the benefit of parents and sponsors.
2. Development of the Ritual in Various Parts of the Church: For eastern Syria (the territory of the Syriac language, with its center at Edessa in
Baptism